Friday, May 23, 2008

We made it to one of the most beautiful spots on our planet: Bavaria. The first two days of our trip were drizzly and cool, but yesterday the sun came out and the temperatures are expected to soar over the next few days. We have a comfortable and spotless room in a little hotel in the town of Benediktbeuern, right at the foot of the Alps. We have some friends there, and we're using the place as a springboard to visit the surrounding areas. When we picked up our rental car at the airport in Munich, we lucked out and were upgraded from our original VW to something more appropriate...a new black Mercedes! How cool is that?! So, we've been tearing around the countryside checking out various sightseeing spots...

Here's Z with our wheels...

Here's the chapel on the farm where the German side of our family used to live...

Sunday, May 18, 2008

On the 21st we leave on the last leg of our travels. We're heading to Germany, Austria, and Hungary so that Z can meet his relatives and visit the areas where his grandmother grew up and where I spent my teenage years. I'm also looking forward to introducing Z to some of my old friends and letting him feast on the fabulous German cuisine. I'm not sure how our internet access will be where we're going, so I've posted some links of some of the places we'll be visiting. Check them out if you'd like...

Saturday, May 17, 2008

The other day I took a stroll around one of the new parks in our hometown, San Ramon. From the top of the hill you get great views of the surrounding hills and neighborhoods. It's been such a dry winter and spring that the hills are already turning golden brown. Here are a few images...

The new park - it has a ramp going all the way up to the top of the hill - very accessible...

Sunday, May 11, 2008

One of my favorite destinations in the world is Fidalgo Island. For those of you who haven't heard of it, Fidalgo is one of the islands of the archipelago in the northwestern corner of Washington state. I was hoping to head up there after our travels through Mexico, but unfortunately, that will have to wait until summertime. For the past few years, though, I have been spending a lot of my free time up there, so I have thousands of photographs which I have taken at various times of the year. I thought this blog would be a good place to share them with you. If you like mountains, islands, forests, clean air and water, hiking, kayaking, boating, quaint towns, and friendly people, you might want to consider taking a trip up to this beautiful and relatively undiscovered corner of the US. Fidalgo is only about 30 minutes off of I-5. It's close to Seattle, Mt. Baker, the Olympic Peninsula, Victoria, and Vancouver...not to mention all the other San Juan islands. Check out these links and photos, and hopefully you'll come and visit one day.

Travel Anyone?

Travel, whether near or far, has always been a big part of my life. Sometimes I'm traveling with others. Usually, however, I'm on my own just tripping around my neighborhood, hometown, or surrounding communities. No matter where I go, though, I always take lots of photos using my Nikon D40 and Nikkor 18-200 mm lens or my little iPhone or iPad.

In January 2013 I was diagnosed a second time with cancer; only this time there is no cure. It's being treated as a chronic disease, so since then I've felt a sense of urgency to get out and see as much of my world as possible and take photos and record them on this blog, which I use as my "photo diary." So, enjoy my travels and resulting images and please visit again...